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Follow
Your Dreams
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Smooth Mooove Senior Relocation Services, Inc.
Getting laid off from a cushy, six-figure corporate executive job is one of the best things that ever happened to
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Adrienne Simpson, president of Smooth Mooove Senior Relocation Services, Inc. Adrienne was shocked that after 30 years of working as director of operations for two of the nation's largest health care organizations she was downsized not only once but twice! The second downsizing made her hit the wall and hard. She went from the
executive life, perks, and income to suddenly being an unemployed single mom. She was depressed and believed she had no self worth. In her eyes she was nothing because she believed that in our society you are judged by who and what you do. She felt like she was
finished and worthless.
Then a simple family event changed her world. Her mother had moved to Atlanta to help with her daughter as she rebuilt her life as a divorced, single mother. When her daughter got older, her mother returned to Michigan. She needed help with the move, and since
Adrienne was just sitting around depressed and doing nothing, she was the obvious choice to help.
She thought she'd be able to just look up a moving service that specialized in moving seniors, and be done. A service to do the packing, transport, unpacking, sort, clean, estate sale, everything. She could find no such service, and she had to do it all. She
realized that moving seniors involves many steps and is very fragmented. Her years of customer service experience immediately kicked in.
Here was an overlooked customer service need that no one was filling. Movers only move things. They don't move people. Suddenly Adrienne's depression was gone. She had a mission and a purpose: to serve seniors citizens. She decided to create a senior relocation
service.
Adrienne met with several SCORE counselors who asked her a lot of questions she could not answer. After finding the answers, she went back to SCORE who then helped her refine her company appearance, marketing, and brand. Even down to the name of the company."The SCORE counselors were incredible!"
Smooth Mooove Senior Relocation Services was born. They provide clearing, cleaning, sorting, organizing, packing, home transport, complete home reassembly, estate sales, antique appraisal, and home renovation. They are a turnkey relocation service dedicated to
serving the needs of active adults, senior citizens, and the disabled throughout the southeast.
The company has been featured in Essence, Family Circle, MORE, Springwise, and PINK magazines. Adrienne has been interviewed on Martha Stewart Living radio and was honored by the Atlanta Business League with their 2006 Non-Traditional Business Enterprise
award. Visit them on the Web at www.WeMoveSeniors.com.
Gitché Yah Yah
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After
twenty-one years of management with Publix in the
Atlanta metro area, Alana Kelly was ready to follow her
dream. Alana has always loved flowers, and wanted to open a
flower shop. Not just any flower shop, but a unique one with
unusual gift items and special presentations.
Alana
first learned of SCORE from a close family friend, Jackie Rowand,
who was chair of SCORE Chapter 537 in Fairmont, West Virginia at
that time. |
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Jackie
gave Alana a copy of “How to Start a Floral Business” from the
chapter library, and encouraged her to contact the SCORE Atlanta
chapter and to take advantage of the classes SCORE offers to help people
start a business. Alana took her advice and met with Bill Atkins
for her first counseling session. She and Bill discussed the
requirements for opening a new business and agreed on “lots of
homework” assignments; Bill “made her think.”
Her
next step was to attend a workshop titled, How to Start a
Successful Small Business, presented by Mike Rose, Jeff Cohen,
Floyd Green, and Sherese Duncan. “It was “very informative,”
Alana says.
After
reviewing her business plan with Jackie Rowand, Alana met with
Chuck Raper for a different point of view. She impressed Chuck
as an “impressive lady” who’s “got it together.” Alana says, “Jackie and
Chuck gave her the courage to take the leap, and they were
very encouraging.” Alana felt like she had double support
working with both the West Virginia and the Atlanta Chapters.
She received counseling on accounting, business plans,
financing, marketing, start-up and legal issues. Alana
commented, “Due to all of the support I have received from both
chapters, and my background in retail operations, I was able to
secure a substantial SBA-guaranteed loan to purchase my retail
space.”
“They
[SCORE counselors] gave me the courage to take the leap.”
With a
whirlwind, 11-day effort from family and friends, Alana
transformed a bare retail space into an attractive retail
location, ready for the grand opening on November 24th. To show
off her Christmas ornaments, she hung an upside down Christmas
tree in the shop window, a display which was noted in the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Sales
since the opening have been good, generating income in excess of
expectations. Sales are increasing weekly by word of mouth.
Alana has received many compliments from residents thanking her
for bringing her unique floral/gift services to them. She loves
to receive phone calls from potential customers asking for
directions to Gitché Yah Yah. She feels her interesting and
unique gifts attract customers.
Gitché
Yah Yah is located in Kirkwood Village at 1963 Hosea Williams
Drive - R 106, Atlanta, GA 30317. Her Website is www.gitcheyahyah.com, and the telephone number is 404-373-3099.
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Sugarplum Visions
Bakery and Dessert Cafe
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Jamie Fine, a Delta Air Lines flight attendant,
while recovering from hand surgery, decided to take a cake
decorating class which inspired “visions of Sugarplums dancing in
her head.” Her initial vision was the design of her wedding cake.
She wanted a unique cake for her reception at a Polynesian
restaurant to complement its exotic tropical scene. She created the
“Exploding Volcano Cake” as a “WOW!” centerpiece.
Soon friends and family were
requesting more “WOWS!” than she could bake in her own kitchen.
Jamie expanded the bakery by borrowing the kitchen facilities of a
friend’s restaurant (after the restaurant had closed for the night).
Jamie started to bake and decorate replicas of ladies handbags,
footballs, bottles of wine, and sugarpaste flowers, displaying
no limit to her creativity.
The business soon outgrew the
borrowed kitchen facilities. Jamie arranged for several face-to-face
counseling meetings with SCORE counselor, Pat Travisano and attended
his Mini-Business Planning Seminar at the Cobb County Chamber of
Commerce.
“SCORE counseling gave me the
confidence to
open my own bakery.” Jamie and Pat prepared a
simplified business plan which provided Jamie with a better
understanding of the financial aspects of her business. In December
2005, she discovered a lovely tearoom that was available to lease
and opened her “Sugarplum Visions Bakery and Dessert Café.” It's
located on Church Street, a short distance from the downtown Square
in Marietta, Georgia.
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Jamie’s Website
www.sugarplum-visions.com and her unique bakery are a delight to
explore. Jamie and Pat are discussing options for growing the
business to the next level. She is considering arranging for a
full-time baker to permit her to spend more time on the marketing of
her business. |
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